Thanks to the most excellent efforts of Torben, willing supporters and forum contributers, Mairlist continues to develop to a standard unmatched in the radio automation business.
I know there are a few of us who follow the exploits of other developers of similar software, and I hope no disrespect is shown by mentioning that, as a current user of ZaraRadio, an updated version, or more correctly, a new freeware and a new paid version has been released, and may be of interest for the purposes of comparison.
Well done Torben… May your constant striving for perfection be richly rewarded, and to all of the forum team, passive and active, keep up the good work.
Personally, I have tried this ZaraRadio software, but mAirList is so much better! I’m all about establishing a professional sound, and mAirList does just this.
Of course I know ZaraRadio, at least the older version. It used to be a 1:1 clone of Raduga, and I must say that I like both pieces of software when you need to quickly set up an automated station with a few music rotations. The “tilde in filename” feature makes the segues sound very professional without much effort. However, I would not want to use either program for live assist operation, because you only have that single playlist, no players to assign to your desk faders, etc.
On the contrary, mAirList started as a live assist only software. There weren’t any automation features in the early versions. This is because eldoradio, the station mAirList was originally made for, has been running Raduga for the unattended hours ever since, and was only in need for a new live assist software. Actually, this setup is still in operation: A Raduga automation loop on a separate PC, and mAirList running in the studios for the live shows. It just works. We even considered to replace Raduga by ZaraRadio. But we didn’t, because we had 100+ events to convert, and the ZaraRadio developers didn’t manage to provide information about their proprietary binary format used in the event files. So we never made the switch.
It’s interesting to see how ZaraRadio (now ZaraStudio) evolves, and of course it’s always good to have a competitor, although I still believe that ZaraRadio and mAirList aim at different markets (whether you focuse on automation or want full live assist features).
Regarding mAirList’s popularity, I’m very happy to see that more and more people and stations are using it. Although there’s no revenue, because almost everyone is getting a free license (there are still very few commercial customers). And would this software be so popular if you had to pay for it?
Perhaps I should point out to those who may think Torben was being unpleasant to me :o that I hate Xmas! So he was actually being thoughtful!
I think there are two other VERY important differences between mAirList and ZaraRadio (plus the vast majority of the ‘competition!’):
mAirList isn’t trying to persuade you to purchase a ‘full version’
mAirList is designed, as Torben often says, so that everything is customisable: the physical GUI layout, the colours, how the Automation works: everything!
Many of us here are involved with not-for-profit stations like LPFM, student radio, internet radio, or community radio stations. We simply don’t have the money to buy the ‘big’ software like (for example) WinRadio, Scott Studios (now Google Radio), or RCS scheduling.
And to be brutally honest, 90% of those ‘other’ packages are not at all flexible when it comes to layout, design, and operation. If you don’t like the way their GUI looks or the way their software operates, tough luck! Your options for customisation are very limited, and in most cases, you can’t even change simple things like the player colours: obviously none of those other authors have ever had to produce or customise software for colour-blind users (to name but one GOOD reason why you might NEED to do that).
That’s the real beauty of mAirList for me: as I say somewhere on the Wiki pages, mAirList is an almost perfect ‘construction set’ which you use to build YOUR perfect playout system; there are very few areas of mAirList where you are ‘forced’ to do things in one particular (and unalterable) way.
And that is why mAirList will continue to be extremely difficult—if not impossible—for other authors to compete with, regardless of the price of the competing package!
interesting to see what Torben says about using mairlist and zara together, which is what I am doing for my internet stream, on the same PC. mairlist is fantastic for live assist, and as CAD says, is extremely customizable which is great. I use an older version of mairlist, because I have so many music catagories that when I add them all, it fills the window so I can’t see the files. I have discovered that I can move the catagories back to a managable point with older versions, but newer versions won’t let me do this. I’d love to see some kind of scrolling option for catagories or some option that can ave you handle a large # of catagories…
By ‘categories,’ do you mean ‘number of tabs open in the Browser?’
If so, does it help if you use the ‘Old Style Browser’ option? This changes the Browser from a space-hogging ‘Outlook style’ set of ‘tabs’ at the bottom of the Browser, to a good old-fashioned set of tabs at the top of the Browser.
it’s been a busy season, so only chance now to get back to you guys…
here’s what i’m doing…
I’m using version 2.0.11. when I load the catagories, in the area of 20-30 into mairlist, it literally fills the entire explorer like window to the right of the players with tabs of all the catagories. with this version of mairlist, I can take the top tab and push them back so that I get some explorer view so I can pick songs and can click onto catagory tabs at the bottom of the explorer screen to access. In later versions of the program, I cannot pull back the tabs, so the catagories fill the window and I can’t pick the music.
I’d love to see a scroll option for the tabs, or something that can make this # of catagories easy to handle. I suppose I could increase my screen settings perhaps, that may make a difference, but are there other options?
I might try the other configurations as offered here…google/scott studios, I’d try DCS, but not practical for me…has to be on one screen…
amazing now how google automation is so close to mediatouch in GUI!
I’ll just point out one feature that makes Raduga and mAirlist vs. Zararadio completly different : the scripting system.
If one stuff makes the absolute success of mAirlist that’s it. It opens to so much possibilities the developper maybe didn’t think of. You are then able to customize the software to join your needs.
And this is so much, because, in this bussiness, every radio has his own configuration and expectations. With this scripting stuff, you are able to get the automation/live assist you want. With a full/rigid programmed stuff, you 're just stucked. And by stucked, I just mean disappointed.
I’m just speaking of experience. I should have tried about 20 automation softwares in my carreer, without finding the good one. mAirlist met my needs at about 90%. That’s why i’m using it right now…